Echo
by CatsAndWhiskers
Summary: When Echo arrives at the dumping ground, she knows it will be the same as every other dump. That was until she realised she was closer to one of the care kids than anyone ever thought. Semi-canon - some stuff fits with what's happened/been said on the show, some definitely not.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! I will tell you now, when I write, it sometimes goes a bit dark. I will put trigger warning up so you can skip it if you want. You have been warned. Sorry for the crappy title and summary - I have never been great at them. I won't include every character from the DG but if you really want a character in it that isn't, ask in the comments and I will try and fit them in. I will tell you now, I am very irregular at posting so sorry :) BTW, I'm not one of those people who put AU's here there and everywhere - I just thought I would explain a few things. Anyway, on with the story!**

She was scared, well actually she was terrified and even that didn't describe how she was feeling either but she couldn't think of anything else at the time as there were just too many other things were racing round her mind at the time, like a roller coaster of thoughts that wouldn't end. This was only going to be another placement wasted on her and she knew what would happen: she would try to make conversation but everyone would be really mean which had happened for the last eight times but she hadn't figured out why. She was only 7 - why did she have to get moved around so much? All she wanted to do was find her brother!

She could run away - it would make life so good for everyone but not her but that didn't matter. She didn't want to run away though - bad things happen when people run away. Horrible things - people get hurt and taken away by nasty people and everyone would get sad. No. She had to stop thinking like this. Stop the roller coaster in her head.

That's how she had spent most of the 3 hour journey, trying to forget about everything.

She hoped it would be at least a little bit better than the last house, fully of mean children and mean adults - it felt like she was at home, with her mummy and daddy... it was horrible.

The best thing to do was to wait until she was 16 because then she could live all on her own - which was all she wanted. She wanted to find her brother and live with him but she was starting to lose hope - she had been split from him when she was 4 which was 3 whole years ago!

"We're here," her social worker said bringing her back to the present time - she wished she could be in Harry Potter or Narnia or some place far away from the real life world full of good and bad people. She wished she was somewhere where she had all the time in the world and play all day and not get told off by the bad people but only ever have to talk to the really good people who she knew would keep her safe. Somewhere where no matter how long she was gone, she would still make it back in time for tea. It was a shame she was stuck here in this world where it seemed there was only bad people with power over every action she did.

"Okay," she replied to her social worker. He put up with her but really she was just another kid he had to find placements for. She was about to open the car door but he stopped her.

"Can you try to be a little bit social with the other kids this time?"

"Fine," she replied, even though it was never happening. Even if she did try to talk the others would ignore her just like every other place.

"I don't want to be back here tomorrow moving you again. There are only so many care home-"

"Care house."

"Care house. There are only so many in the country," he said, starting to get annoyed.

"I know," she said, getting out of the car with her backpack which was only half full. She used to have a suitcase of things which she would unpack, only to be made to pack it all up again a month later. She would have had more stuff if it hadn't all been taken at Burnywood but it was and there was nothing she could do about it which was sad because the mean people took all her nice stuff from when she was living at home, apart from one thing, which was lucky.

It was this point where she started getting nervous. When she had to walk up to the door and say hello to the person in charge and walk past all the big scary people just to get to her room, which she usually had to share.

Her social worker knocked on the door, the seven year old standing behind, shaking, breathing heavily.

"You'll be fine, I promise."

"You said that last time, and the time before, and before that-"

"I get the point," he said as the door opened, a man with little to no hair and glasses standing there. There were about 14/15 kids behind him, all with beady eyes, staring at her. If looks could kill, she would have been gone in less than a second. She refused to think like that though.

"Hello Rob, long time no see," the man said, the two having a 'man hug' as she liked to call them. "And you must be Echo. Come in," the old man said. Rob and her walked in and followed the guy to what seemed to be the office.

"May-li, could you show Echo where her room is. I need to talk to Rob."

"Of course," a Chinese looking lady said. "Come with me."Echo followed her, having to face the embarrassment of walking past the others.

May-li took Echo up a flight of stairs, through a maze of corridors, all covered with pictures drawn by the kids, and into a room. It was quite small but at least it was hers - she didn't have to share with anyone, which she was extremely grateful for. She was sick of being hurt in her own bedroom, her own space.

"Is that all you have?"

"Yes Miss."

"You don't have to call me Miss. We're not a school. Call me May-li. I will take you shopping tomorrow. Would you like me to help you unpack?" she asked.

"No thank you."

"Okay. Me and Mike will be down stairs if you want if need anything. The bathroom is just down the hall."

"Thanks," Echo said as May-li left. She took out the three long sleeve shirts, a couple of pairs of jeans and some underwear, and put it all in the draws. She took out the one book she owned which was called Alice In Wonderland. All her other books got burned in the infamous Burneywood fire. She took her wash bag, realising she couldn't remember where the bathroom. She didn't want to ask though. What if Mike or May-li got mad? She decided, much to her dismay, to ask one of the other kids, if she could find them. As she walked through the confusing world of all the corridors, she bumped into a boy, quite tall and in a similar checked top to her.

"Sorry," She mumbled.

"Ryan. What's your name?" he said, bending down so that he was at eye level with Echo.

"My name's Echo." When she said that, she thought she saw a hint of sadness. Do you need any help?" he asked.

"Um, yeah. Um, where is the bathroom?" Echo asked.

"Follow me," Ryan said. It turns out the bathroom was only down the corridor from her room, which was pretty good.

"Um, thanks," Echo said.

"Don't worry. Oh, by the way, we're not all horrible. Watch out for Floss and Bailey, but everyone else are nice, well, sometimes Carmen and Tee can be a bit iffy, but that is just teenage girls being, well, teenage girls. It can be a bit crazy, but you'll like it."

"Thanks, for warning me," Echo said. Ryan left, leaving her to her thoughts. He reminded her of her brother. It must just be a coincidence that there was a boy called Ryan in the same care house. There were probably loads of people named Ryan, not that she had ever met any others.

She went back to her room and shoved her backback under her bed. There was one thing she hadn't unpacked, and it was going to stay unpacked, because the last thing she wanted was for it to get stolen. She had learned that the hard way before and didn't want the same to happen again.

Echo walked through the matrix of corridors (if felt like the first day of primary school all over again) and made her way down stairs.

As she entered the living room where everyone was and subconsciously pulled down her sleeves even more, even though the shirt was already 2 sizes too big unless the sleeves were rolled up a little. Otherwise they went past the ends of her fingers which she would always get told off for.

After all her stuff had been nicked at Burneywood, Rob brought her new stuff, not realising that he had got it all in size 7, not size 5. That's what he said anyway. Echo knew it was because he had forgotten though.

She went over to the sofa and perched on the end.

"Hi. I'm Toni."

"And I'm Billie." Echo turned her head to see two girls, whom she guessed were twins.

"Hi. I'm Echo," she replied, still tugging on her sleeves. She had a 10 minute conversation with them, the two throwing questions at her like tiny daggers. 'How long have you been in care?' 'Why are you in care?' Stuff like that. It was bittersweet however, when Mike came in.

"Echo, could you come with me," Mike said, standing at the door. She'd only been there...some time. What had she done to get sent to the office?


	2. Chapter 2

Ryan sat on his bed, looking at the pile of letters from his sister. He had 3 years worth of letters, all untouched. At his last care home, he hadn't opened the draw he kept the letters in once, leaving them to build a thick layer of dust. He had only ever opened one, when Jody kept bugging him about it all. She said she forgave him, but no one should forgive him for what she did - he left her, and that hurt her. He left her all alone, with their dad. Why should she forgive him for that - he didn't even forgive himself!

It was different now, he wanted to know what his sister thought of him; he needed to know what his sister had said. Ryan took one letter, his name and address scrawled on an orange envelope. Turning it over in his hand, he began to open it, being ever so careful, trying not to rip it. These letters were the most precious thing he owned - he couldn't just rip them.

Before this Echo Girl had turned up, he had managed to ignore every single letter - he had always thought it would be too painful. But now he knew it wasn't just a coincidence that she looked so similar to his sister. This Echo, she must have something to do with his sister. He didn't want to get his hopes up though, only to find that his sister was still miles and miles away from him, with dad still.

He opened the card: 'I miss you Ryan. Please come home.' But where was home? He once knew, the smell of mum's cooking, the piano his dad would play while his sister sang.

Ryan missed his little sister so much. The way she would sing to the family - she was amazing, especially for a 4 year old. Ryan would always tell her she was going to be a big star. His big star. He missed her voice, squeaky, like a little mouse (which was a good thing). The way her hair would float around, catching the light when she was dancing, performing to the family, copying what she had seen him do when her and their mum would come and pick him up from dance.

Ryan hadn't danced for years, ever since he was put into care, when he was 10. He loved dance, being able to let out all of the emotions that would build up inside him, being free to express himself how ever he wanted, not giving a care in the world about what anyone thought.

Before he knew what he was doing, he was doing leaps and turns around his bedroom, music playing in his head, like a mini piano, never ending. Tears fell down his face as he remembered home, his mum and dad and sister, all happy, opening presents at Christmas, watching the fireworks with hot chocolates in each of their hands, teaching the dog tricks, even though he was to fat to lift one paw off of the floor. Everything before the accident. It had been icy, yet it was only October. Ryan's mum had been taking him to school in the car when another car drive into his mum's side. He remembered the car skidding, crashing into the wall of a nearby house. He had only been 6 - the doctors said he was lucky to be alive. His mum hadn't been as lucky. His dad blamed him, getting drunk, doing bad things to Ryan, as if it were his way of grieving. Ryan put up with this for 3 years. He knew he shouldn't have left his sister - she had only been 4. He was sick and tired of everything though.

Ryan's thoughts and memories were interrupted by someone opening the door.

"Um, Ryan?" He stopped and turned to the door, Carmen standing there, obviously trying to suppress the laughter. This had always happened; he would get called names because dancing was for girls, not a boy like him. It kind of made him feel like Billy Elliot. "Lunch," she said.

"I'll be down in a minute," he said. Once she had gone, he went to the bathroom, splashing his face with water, trying to cover the prominent tracks of his tears. She would probably tell them all, giving them something new to laugh about, a new joke to keep them entertained while trapped in the DG.

Ryan walked down the stairs, subconsciously pulling at his sleeves. He had seen Echo doing the same thing, which made him worry. He had to drop it though - she was only 7. 7 year olds don't do things like that.

Everyone was in the kitchen already, except Echo. Carmen was telling them all how she had walked in on him dancing, which made them burst out with laughter.

"Hey ballet boy!" Bailey shouted at him.

"You can't say much. You should see yourself playing football. You could be in swan lake!" Ryan replied, making the others laugh at Bailey.

"What?" Bailey said, forcefully. Ryan could see him getting angry, so ran up to Bailey's room, and picking up his boots. Bailey smashed in.

"Hey! Give those back!"

"Could be ballet shoes, don't you think?" Before Bailey could react, May-li stepped in.

"Ryan put down his shoes and go to your room. You can both have lunch later!"

"That's hardly fair!" Ryan complained.

"How?" She questioned.

"He started it!"

"Did I ballet boy?"

"Shut it."

"That's enough you too. Room, now," May-li shouted. Ryan went back to his room, realising he had left the pile of unopened letters on his bed. He put them away and sat on his bed. This was why he had stopped dancing in the first place. He remembered he was at Burnywood when he first went into care. Dance was his escape. When everyone were out, he would dance his heart out, but one time, they came home early. His roommate came in and called him all sorts of names such as 'fag'. Obviously, 10 year old Ryan didn't know what it all meant, but he stopped dancing anyway. He didn't want to get bullied - that's what school was for.

It was after he stopped dance when he began skateboarding. It was a 'cool' sport, that he couldn't get bullied for - that's the only reason he ever began it, to fit in.

Ryan opened the draw again and took out the letters. He opened another one, and another one, and another. They all said similar things. Some had drawings of Chloe, mum and him. Some had drawings of their dog. Some even had little boiled sweets covered in sherbet. He didn't know how old the sweets were, but he chucked them - he didn't want to get sick. The light from the window made the pictures look happy and joyful - that's what Chloe would have wanted them to mean, but he could never think of these pictures as happy, just reminders of what he could never have - a family.

Ryan heard a knock at his door, making his poster fall off his door. He really needed to find some better blue tack.

"Come in," he said. He bet it was May-li or Mike, making him apologise, or Bailey, ready to fight him or something ridiculous he just didn't want to get involved in. All of the above was wrong though. It was someone he didn't expect at all.

The door slowly opened and Echo came in, shutting the door behind her quickly.

"Can I stay here for a little bit?"

"Yeah," Ryan said

For the next week, Echo came in, the same time everyday. He would never ask why though. Ryan would sometimes read one of her books with her, sometimes they would talk, and sometimes they would listen to music. It made Echo happy, hanging around with Ryan. He knew something was wrong with her, something terrible, but he did couldn't work out what, but if he could make her smile for at least an hour, then he happy.

He failed to look after his sister 3 years ago, but he could look after Echo, and do what he couldn't do for Chloe - stay by her side.


	3. Chapter 3

**If you haven't read or watched the Maze Runner and was planning on doing so, i advise you skip the first couple of paragraphs because there are some spoilers. I'll tell you when you can look again. Sorry x**

Echo sat in her room, reading one of the books Ryan had lent her - it was the first book from the Maze Runner series. She had just read the bit where Thomas and Newt and Chuck and the others had escaped the maze. She was sad Gally didn't come though because Gally was her all time favourite Character, Followed by Newt and Chuck. Chuck was like her because they were both outsiders sort of.

"Cough cough," someone said. Echo looked up - it was Tyler.

"Wait," she said, reading to the end of the page. She wished she hadn't. Her favourite 2 characters were dead. Gone and never coming back. Well, that had put her in a bad mood.

 **Now you can read again.**

"Yes," she said.

"Well, I'm doing a magic show."

"Another one?" In the one month she had been at Ashden, Echo had endured 6 magic shows by tyler, 3 dance shows from floss, 2 dog shows by Bailey and Billi and Toni's singing things. She wasn't complaining as she always sat on the stairs next to Ryan or sit on his lap when they were watching out in the garden. He was like the big brother she had wanted for 3 years. Only he wasn't and would never really be.

"Yeah. Anyway, I need a fabulous assistant for my last trick, no one else will do it." Tyler sounded sad. Ryan had told her about Channelle and how upset Tyler was when she had to go away to Ireland.

"What would I have to do?" Echo asked, scared about what Tyler had planned.

"I want to cut you in half and then put you back together," Tyler said confidentially as if he had done it a billion times.

"Okay," Echo said. What she really meant though was no but she didn't want to let down Tyler and Rob would be happy she was socialising with other people. She didn't want to be cut in half though and was quite frankly terrified of the prospect of such a thing.

As soon as Tyler left, she packed her bag with a couple of books. She didn't want to let him down and she would talk to Ryan but Tyler and him were friends. She hadn't really spoken to any of the others and didn't want to be called a wimp by all of them. Echo had already had lots of experience being the joke for people's own entertainment.

Echo knew this was wrong - she had promised herself she wouldn't run away. She just wanted a quiet place though as it was always way too noisy to think when at Ashdene.

Maybe she wouldn't run away but hide in the garden behind the shed. No one went behind the shed except Mike and that was only once after Bailey kicked the ball so hard that it went through both windows of the shed and behind it.

She heard Mike call everyone for lunch and once she was sure everyone was downstairs, she crept down the staircase. She opened the front door and shut it behind her as quietly as possible. Echo sneaked around the house and to the garden, hoping no one would see her.

Behind the shed was very dark and there were lots of cobwebs and spiders but Echo didn't mind. It was better than having to sit with Tyler who she had just lied to. Her dad always told her off for lying even though she never did except the one time when her brother left. Her brother had told her not to tell dad which made it all very difficult when his dad has asked whether she knew where he was. It was either: be a liar or be a snitch. She said she didn't know but her dad didn't believe her and hurt her just like he had once done to her brother. She had deserved it although Rob said she shouldn't think like that because no one deserves to be abused.

In that moment when Rob took her away, she felt like Harry Potter when Hagrid took him away.

Echo suddenly felt very tired. She hadn't realised she had been crying, but she guessed she had used up all of her energy. It didn't help that she hadn't been getting to sleep very well since she had got to Ashdene. Her mind would always stay switched on even after all of the lights had been turned off.

Echo decided that a 5-minute cat nap wouldn't hurt anyone. She put her head on her bag and fell asleep.

TDG TDG

"Has anyone seen Echo?" Mike asked, walking over to the kitchen counter. He looked tired - Ryan knew he was going to his family down south for Christmas. Mike probably couldn't wait to get away from them, all the trouble they had caused him over the past year.

"She was in her room like 15 minutes ago," Tyler said, taking another bite from his Tyler sandwich, which was essentially bacon, sausage, egg, tomato and lots of ketchup, all squished in between two slices of the thickest white bread Ryan had ever seen.

"She doesn't talk to anyone so why was she talking to you?" Carmen asked.

"I was asking whether she would be in my magic show or not."

"Are you crazy?" Ryan shouted. He knew the last thing Echo would want to do was be in a magic show - she didn't even talk to anyone but May-li, Mike and himself.

"What? I asked whether she would be in my last act. The big finale. She said yes."

"And this last act, what does it involve?" Ryan asked,getting very protective all of a sudden. He had never been so protective, well, except for when he lived at home, with Chloe.

He remembered one time, when his dad had gone out, after their mum had died, and came back at 10 in the morning,hammered. Chloe had gone to nursery, Ryan had taken her, but bunked off school, waiting for his dad to return. He tried to do stuff to Ryan, bad stuff, that should never have happened. Instead of letting him pick up Chloe, Ryan did and took her to the library, using a fiver he had taken out of his dad's wallet, to pay for dinner for the two. Chloe had loved it, never wanting to leave the library, so emerged in the books. The library had to close and Ryan had to take Chloe home. He hated it, having to take Chloe somewhere like that. He couldn't do anything about it. He would have called childline or something, but their landline had been cut off and he refused to talk to school about it.

"Cutting her in half then sticking her back together," Tyler said, bringing Ryan back to the present, reminding him of the current situation.

"You've scared her off!" Ryan shouted, standing up, the chair skidding across the floor, being stopped by the kitchen island.

"Yeah. Well, she said yes!" Tyler said standing up, his chair doing the same thing. The two, although they had been friends 2 seconds before, were now glaring at each other, neither one blinking.

"Boys," May-li said.

"Tyler! She will say yes to everything! She doesn't want to disappoint anyone!" Ryan shouted. It was now his job to find her, or else. He walked out of the kitchen to get his shoes, much to Mike's dismay.

"I'll go in the van, search the streets," Mike said. "Ryan, go and check the garden. She doesn't have a history of running away and doesn't seem the type to - she'll probably be hiding in a corner."

"Fine," Ryan replied.

"Can I help?" Tyler asked.

"I think you've done enough damage," Ryan replied bitterly. Ryan walked out the door and went round to the back of the house. "Echo!" he shouted over and over again. She didn't reply though. He looked in the bushes and where the swinging chair was and what seemed like everywhere but he couldn't find her at all.

That's when he heard whimpering. It was coming from behind the shed - the one place he didn't think to look. He climbed through the nettles and squeezed himself into the gap in between the shed and the fence. Even for him, it was extremely small. On the floor lay Echo, sleeping, her head resting on her duffle bag, whimpering. She was having a nightmare.

"Echo," he said, shaking her shoulder gently. She slowly pried her eyes open. "Let's go back up to the house," he whispered, hoping she wasn't frightened. He picked the small girl up and shuffled back to the rest of the garden. By the time he was at the back door, Echo was asleep again.

"Where did you find her?" May-li asked as he walked into the house.

"Behind the shed. She was having a nightmare. Shall I try and talk to her later?"

"If she wants to," May-li said. "Thank you, Ryan."

"No problem." Ryan climbed the stairs and walked to Echo's room. He lay her down on her bed, put a blanket over her and shut the curtains. He just hoped she would talk about it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Trigger warning (at the endish of the chapter). Don't read if you are sensitive about it and I do understand it is a sensitive topic. Please don't bash me about it though.**

" _Where are you two!"_

 _Echo was in her room, huddled up to her brother. Their dad had come home drunk and was mad_

 _and scary which scared Echo because she hated seeing him like this. Ever since mum had died, he had it in for her brother and her. He blamed her brother for their mum going but it wasn't his fault at all._

" _Come down here now!" their dad screamed, from downstairs. Echo could feel her brother's breathing quicken and he was shaking. He never got scared which made Echo terrified._

" _Stay here. You'll be safe," her brother said._

" _What about you?" Echo loved her brother and really didn't want to get hurt and he should just stay up away from dad because he would definitely get hurt going down there because he was drunk and everyone does stupid things when they're drunk. Especially dad._

" _I'll be fine." Echo gave him the look she gave people if she didn't believe them. "I promise. I'll be back up here in a minute." She hoped so. He was everything to her. He stayed by her whenever and wherever, especially at school. He protected her from all the mean nasty children._

 _Echo heard loads of shouting and someone kicking and punching something and it all made Echo very scared and she tried to squash herself into the very corner so that maybe she could just disappear until it was all over but no matter how hard she tried she was still in the same old house feeling so small and so tired of everything. She knew it was her dad kicking and punching something and she also knew that that something wasn't just a something but a someone and that someone was her brother. The shouting and screaming went on for ages and ages but the everything suddenly went quiet as if nothing had ever happened even though something had happened._

 _Echo heard the front door shut really quietly and then footsteps coming up the stairs and although she wished for it to be her brother bringing comfort and hope that everything would get better, Echo's little brain was screaming out that her wishful thinking was wrong because the only person coming up the stairs was her dad._

 _Once his door shut, she waited and waited and waited for her brother to come back like he promised. He couldn't and wouldn't ever break a promise. She waited a minute, then 5, the 10 and then before she knew it, an hour. He should be back up here. Her brother said a minute, not 1 hour! Where was he? Echo could feel her chest tightening as all the possibilities of where her brother could be came into her mind. She couldn't breathe._

" _Help," she whispered, black dots dancing across her vision. "Please." No one replied though. She was all alone. It was after that realisation when everything went black._

She sat up panting, tears free falling down her face like a rapid river. Her chest still felt tight like in her dream. It wasn't a dream though and she knew it but she wished it was a dream because that day, that memory, was the worst day of her life because her brother never did come back. She stayed alone, except for her dad but that didn't count because he was drunk most of the time. The only other person that stayed with her was her social worker Rob but that was only because he was paid to care, just like Mike and May-li and all of the other care workers even though none of them actually cared. It was always for the money, which most of them spent on booze and cigarettes, just like Denis from Burneywood.

Echo had known Tyler before, she had recognised him, but she only just realised, after all the horrible thinking, that he was at Burnywood at the same time as her. He must have been one of the ones to get sent to Elmtree house. She, however, got moved to a foster home where the parents were both horrible and were always shouting and screaming and it always reminded her of her old home with dad. Mr and Mrs Aycliffe she seemed to remember.

After all the horrible thoughts about all her old homes and horrible care workers were out of her head, she decided to do something with the rest of the day. She could see light coming from under the curtains so even though it was dark in her room, it must have only been 2 o'clock.

She got out of bed, tripping her way to the curtains, bringing light into the room. She looked in the mirror and tried to make it look like she hadn't been crying which was quite hard but she didn't want to get called a cry baby by Floss and one of the twins. Even after a month, she couldn't tell which one was which but she knew one of them worshipped Floss and the other one followed them round like a lost puppy but she couldn't exactly say anything so she stopped thinking like a bully because that was bad and she knew how it felt to be on the receiving end of the stick.

After brushing her wild knotty hair which confused her because no one she could remember in her family had curly hair like hers, she stumbled out of her room and went downstairs hoping Ryan was in the kitchen or something because she really wanted to talk to him.

"Hey. You okay?" May-li asked.

"I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"For running off."

"As long as you're safe. There's some lunch left over, if you want it,"

"No thanks. I'm not really that hungry," Echo said. All she wanted to do was talk to Ryan because he understood everything. "Um, where is Ryan?"

"He is in his room I think. Don't quote me on that though," May-li said.

"Thank you," Echo said. She ran up the stairs and went through all the corridors to Ryan's room. Although she had now lived there for over a month, the whole place still confused her. Ask her for directions to Carmen's room for example, and you'd have her lost.

She knocked on Ryan's door and hoped he would answer. Just as she was about to leave, Ryan came to the door.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Um, could I talk to you about something?"

"Yes. Come in," he said, pushing the door open more. Echo stepped inside and sat on the bed like she did most days at 2ish, except for when they had school. She was so glad it was the Christmas holidays because although everyone was nice enough, she just wanted a break from everything. She also needed to get her secret santa present for Ryan. Apparently, every year the dumping ground do secret santa because none of them have enough all pulled names out of a hat and Echo got Ryan. She was glad because she didn't really know what she would have gotten anyone else.

Her brain had completely ignored everything so she didn't realise Ryan had asked what she wanted to talk about.

"Sorry. My mind is all over the place at the moment," Echo apoligised.

"I know the feeling. I'm so glad it's the holidays. I don't think i could have taken another day of school if they paid me. Anyway, what did you want to talk to me about?" Ryan asked.

"I had this dream. Well, memory," Echo began, explaining it all. Ryan sat there, listening to every last word, playing with the button on his sleeve. Although it was a red shirt, Echo could see blood and she wanted to stop talking about her and talk to him about it but she knew that was a sensitive issue and shouldn't unless he tells her about what he was doing to himself.

"And I just want to find him and tell him I forgive him because it's not his fault even though i know that's what he thinks and yeah," Echo drifted off. "Ryan?"

"Yes," he said.

"Please can you promise 2 things. One, please don't tell anyone. They'll all call me a crybaby. And two, please, just please, stop hurting yourself." She told herself she wouldn't mention it to him but trust her stupid bing fat mouth for doing otherwise.

"Get out!" Ryan shouted. "It's none of your business what i do!"

"But Ryan. I was trying to help. You don't deserve it," Echo cried.

"I do and if you tell anyone, I will make your life a misery." Echo got off of the bed and ran back to her room, tears falling down her face. She was just trying to help but as usual, she just made everything worse. She just wanted him to stop because he doesn't deserve the pain. She did. The one person who treated her as a human being now hated her. She picked herself up off of the cream carpet and ran to the bathroom, locking the door. She knew what she was doing - she had done this before.

Echo picked up one of the razors and cut three times. Once because everyone hated her. Once because everyone she ever loved left her and lastly once for being so stupid and thinking he was different.

Echo sat in her bedroom, after cleaning her cuts, leaning against the wardrobe. She didn't deserve to be in this house, she should be in the old house, with dad. That's what she deserved. She cried and cried and cried, silently, until she fell asleep, the pain of the world disappearing temporarily.

 **What did I tell you. Only four chapters in and it's already getting deep.**


	5. Chapter 5

"I don't believe in you and I've never been to church or anything but I need help and I have no one else to talk to because all i do is push people away so i'm just hoping someone can hear me and answer me. I've messed up really big, and not like usual but I've properly truly messed up and now I've lost the one person who didn't see me as a bad person and now she is different. She doesn't talk to anyone and she's stopped eating properly and she is always sad and that's not fair on a 7 year old. She's already been through so much and no 7 year old should have experienced what she has. She should be with her mum and dad and brother but she isn't and why have you done this. Please God. Help," Ryan whispered.

He was kneeling on the floor in the middle of a church, even though it was a monday. He should be at the kids club Mike organised everyone to go to because May-li and him were really busy apparently, but he sneaked out because he just couldn't think. Echo had been sitting in the corner, drawing the whole time. He had tried to talk to her but she just blanked him.

Ryan heard the big oak doors open and close but ignored it.

"Why have you done this? To Echo, my sister, to everyone. Why should we have to go through all of this? I can't have a normal life, hanging out with friends, not having to ask for permission to go out, all because I'm a care kid! Because my mum died and my dad hated me because it was my fault she died, and I guess it was. I should have died because then i wouldn't have to deal with the guilt of abandoning my sister! God, why didn't I die? No one loves me and no one ever will!" Ryan shouted, hoping someone out there was listening."Why am I different?"

"Different is good," someone said.

"No it isn't," he replied, not bothering to see who it was.

"Yes it is. If everyone was the same, it would be boring, wouldn't it?"

"I guess. But why am I in care? That's a bad difference."

"God has a plan for everyone. Wait, and I promise you good will happen." Ryan turned around to see the stranger. He didn't recognise him but Ryan guessed he was a vicar or priest because he had one of those white bands around his neck.

"How do you know?"

"Because I was a care kid too. My parents abandoned me on the side of a road when i was a baby. I thought no one loved me either but look at me now. I found God and he told me I would find love again. That gave me hope. I now have a wife, 3 kids and 6 grandchildren. You may think your life is over, but it isn't. Everything you want is on the other side of any fears you have, no matter how big." The priest paused. "Remember, sometimes what you want and need most, is right under our noses. Think about that." The priest turned around and walked away, leaving Ryan to think about what he had just said.

The big oak doors had opened again and Tee came running in.

"Oh my God, Ryan! Mike has been going mental! Why are you in a church. None of us have ever been to church, let alone you!" Ryan stood up and followed Tee, ignoring her ramblings. What had the priest meant when he said what we needed was right under our noses?

"Ryan. Where have you been?" Mike said, looking angry, seeing Tee and Ryan enter the Dumping Ground. Ryan ignored him and went up to his room, muttering the same phrase over and over again. "Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever."

When he got to his room, he sat down at his desk, getting out some paper and a pen. He remembered overhearing this when PoPo came. He began to write to his dad, telling him about everything. He refused to send it though. He didn't even know if his dad was still alive. He probably drunk himself to death.

 _Dad,_

 _I hated you because after mum died you blamed me and make me feel bad. You were mean and horrible to me and I hated it when you kicked me and punched me. I hated how I was the one who had to take Chloe to school and buy food and do all of the cooking and cleaning while my friends were out in the park or something. I hated that I had to protect my sister from her own dad - why should it have been like that? I hated that I felt the only way to make things better was to run away. I hated myself because I left my sister, my 4 year old sister to fend for herself, against you._

 _Saying that though, I still loved you, which confused me back then, but know I know why. It's because even though you turned bad, you were still my father. Before you became an alcoholic, just after mum died, you cared for me, and cradled me when I got upset and still loved me and Chloe, because you knew when she asked innocent questions like when was mum coming back, you knew it was because she was too young to understand, and you explained to her that she was never coming back._

 _What I have never understood, is why you blamed me. One day, you came home drunk, and from that day forward, you came home every day, drunk. You lost your job and that's when it went wrong. I hated that I had to steal food to feed us and Chloe and me would have to wear school uniform that was too small for us, that even though I tried my best to look after us, you still hated me, and you blamed me. I wanted to protect Chloe but I couldn't take it, which is why I ran away. I don't need to feel guilty anymore though, because while writing this, I have realised something: I think I have finally found her._

 _I hope you are happy because I wasn't, but now I am._

 _Ryan._

Ryan put the letter in an envelope and put it in his draw. He had to find Echo and tell her. He just hoped she believed him. He grabbed one of the letters from him and ran to Echo's room, not bothering to knock.

"Echo. Your name isn't really Echo is it? It's Chloe. And you had a big brother called Ryan, and I had a little sister called Chloe." Ryan gave the letter to Echo. She slowly opened it and read it.

"How did you get this?"

"I'm your brother."

 **It was getting kind of obvious that they were siblings so… ta da! It's not as long as most of my chapters but oh well.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I was going to post yesterday - I had a lazy day, so i should have posted but I didn't so here is a chapter.**

 **I just wanted to say a quick thank you cause I have over 300 views, 10 reviews, 6 follows and 2 favorites, and that was all in 6 days which is incredible. An extra big thank you to Justice237 because you have written a review for every chapter and that means a lot.**

 **I love how I said i wouldn't be one of those people who do massive long AN's but oh well. Enjoy :-)**

Echo looked at Ryan as if he was off his head, although it did seem like he was. Her brother had abandoned her, just like everyone else. Yes, she wanted to see him again and tell him face to face that she forgave him and they would catch up on everything that had happened in the last 3 years but this was all just too soon. She wasn't ready to talk to her brother face to , she had been talking to Ryan, her supposed brother, for a couple of months but as a friend, not a sibling.

The last time she had spoken to her brother was just before he left. He had promised her he would come back up, yet he never came back. He had never replied to a single letter she had written him and never told her that he was okay. Echo had just assumed, even though she really didn't want to, that the worst had happened, that he had died, just like everyone else in her family.

The worst thing was that Ryan was telling her this now. It was Christmas tomorrow - everything was mad enough in this house with everyone rushing around cooking and cleaning and decorating and putting all the presents under the tree as well as doing all the normal stuff everyone else did like swimming or seeing friends. She didn't want everyone's lives to suddenly stop all because Ryan was coming out with this sort of news! Echo had been told time and time again in past care places that all she ever did was ruin all the good times, she didn't want to ruin it for everyone now.

Most of all, she didn't want social services coming and taking her away from him to be tested with DNA tests and whatever else they did.

"No." Echo whispered it so quietly, Ryan had a hard time trying to work out what she had said.

"What?" he asked.

"No. I don't want to think about any of this now because they'll take us away to test us to make sure we're siblings and I don't want to because this year was going to be the best Christmas ever because I can't remember a time apart from before mum died when I had any one at Christmas! I don't want to go through all of this now! For the first time ever, even if it doesn't look like it, I feel normal and I feel like I fit in here. No one shouts at me or pushes me or steals all my stuff and people are actually nice to me! Everyone except you!" Echo shouted.

"We don't have too. We don't have to tell them. Not now at least," Ryan said, bending down so that he was at eye level with Echo.

"But we do otherwise it's lying and dad hated it when I lied and he would get mad and shout and what if they are the same like all the other care homes and everyone."

"It's not lying if they don't know."

"But I know! And you know!" At that moment Tee, Carmen and Floss walked in, confused with all the shouting. "And now half the dumping ground know," Echo whispered so that only Ryan could hear, or so she thought.

"Know what?" Tee asked. "Ryan?"

"There is nothing to see here," he said, pushing them all out and closing the door. "Echo. We can tell them after Christmas and I'll make sure they don't take you away or split us u-"

"No." Echo said again. She stood up and pushed past Ryan. "I hope I never have to talk to you again because everytime I do all I think about is home and it's horrible and -" Echo's voice hitched.

Echo hadn't realised but she was still clutching the letter in her hand as if it were the only support. Before she knew it though, she was ripping it up, one of the only things that mattered to Ryan. She was mad and upset but she knew that wasn't an excuse. She knew he was going to kill her!

"I'm sorry," she said, looking between her hands and Ryan. He had tears in his eyes and it was her fault.

"That's it,"he said. "Get out! I never want to see you again, sister or not!" Echo couldn't take it anymore because she thought she had lost her brother and Ryan and yet Ryan was telling her that they were siblings and once again he was pushing her away, once again, it being Echo's fault. She wanted to run, just like Ryan had told her too, but her feet were glued to the spot, out of fear and hurt and it was all too much. Her chest felt tight and she couldn't breath and she felt dizzy and sick and horrible. "I told you: get. Out." That's what Echo did. She ran and ran and ran, past Mike and May-li and everyone, through the doors and across the road to the other side, even though she only had her stripped socks on. She would have kept going, never looking back, slipping across the boggy dead grass but she stopped when she heard a bang like something hitting metal. She didn't want to turn round and see what had happened but it was like her body was possessed.

Her lips began to quiver at what she saw. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she ran to the body, all battered and broken, slipping over in the mud, cutting her knee on some glass from a bottle. She didn't care though. She just hoped what she saw wasn't what she thought.

"Ryan."

That's when she broke down. She cried, begging for him to open his eyes and tell her that he was okay and it was just a prank and they could all go inside and eat nice food and all laugh at random jokes and stay up til midnight eating sweets while waiting for Santa to come with presents. But he just lay there, as if he were dead.

Echo could see the ambulance coming but for some reason, the sirens were muffled, as if she were under water. She could hear one of the paramedics talking to her but she couldn't figure out what he was saying so he ended up pulling her away from the boy, much against her will. All she wanted to do was stay with Ryan, holding his hand, never letting go because this was all her fault that Ryan was now dying and there was nothing she could do but watch as the paramedics lifted Ryan's lifeless body into the ambulance.

It was a shock when she felt a pair of hands grab her and lift her into the ambulance as well and she tried to squirm away but whoever it was had a strong grip. Her dad used to pick her up and beat her and it was all too much because all she had in her mind was memories of her mum and dad and brother and even though some were good most of the memories were bad and it was horrible and her mind wouldn't just switch off because that's all she wanted.

"Get off," she screamed. She hated this. She wanted to be with her brother, not get mis-handled by someone she didn't know. She was put onto the bench next to Ryan. Mike sat next to her and put his arm around her, bringing her to his chest.

"This is all might fault."

"Now don't you start saying that. It's not your fault!" Mike said. Just as Echo was about to reply but then a long beep echoed through the ambulance. She remembered this when her, their, mum was in hospital, just before she died. It was so scary back then and now it was happening again to her brother. She had just found him and now he was dying. It was so unfair. It should be her lying on that bed, half dead, not him. Why did it have to be Ryan?

She hadn't realised they had stopped and she was being ushered out of the ambulance and into the hospital. As soon as they entered the door all the doctors and nurses surrounded Ryan which blocked him from Echo's view which she did not like at all. After all this time, Ryan had looked after her yet now it was her turn she failed.

She just prayed and prayed to whoever was listening because they needed a miracle.

 **This was pretty bad but oh well.**


	7. Chapter 7

**This is unbelievable short but I will try to post tomorrow. If not, see you on boxing day or whatever x**

 **Update: I realised I forgot to put warnings so... Mentions of self-harm and eating disorders.**

 **Update: Thank you Justice237 for pointing out those mistakes. I've corrected them.**

"He's okay, in terms of the car crash. They've put him in a medically induced coma according to the doctors, to give him time to rest. Apparently he went flat in surgery 3 times, and also 1 time on the way to the hospital. He may take up to a month to wake up," Mike told May-li, once all the kids had gone to bed, unknown to them that Echo was listening from outside.

"So that's good right? He'll survive?" May-li hoped so. This was the first time anything like this had happened while she had been there. Yes, there was that time Faith had been hit by a car but she didn't spend too long in hospital. The kids, however, had told her of all the bad things, such as Lilly falling off of the roof, or the time Gina had been hit by a grenade. May-li had no idea how this place was still open with all of the accidents that ended up involving hospital.

"Yes. That's not the problem though. When he was in surgery, the surgeon said they found cuts all over him and he is apparently severely underweight," Mike said, gripping onto his mug as if it were his own life support.

"You don't mean… Oh God. This is…"

"I know. We can't be 100% sure but the doctor is pretty sure. They'll try and talk to Ryan once he wakes up," Mike sighed. He had only ever had to deal with something like this once before, and that was a long time ago, even before 10 year old Tracy had first stepped into Elm Tree house. He wasn't ready for all of this, not again, and not so close to Christmas. Why did everything have to happen when Christmas was only a couple of hours away.

"He won't talk." Echo said, making her presents clear to the 2 stressed care workers. "He doesn't talk to anyone about it."

"You should be in bed."

"And so should Ryan, but he is in hospital because of me and there is nothing you can do about it," Echo said, hopping up onto one of the stools in the kitchen.

"How come you knew then? I'm guessing you knew," May-li asked.

"I knew about the cuts. I saw and I tried to talk to him but he shouted at me and I didn't want to snitch and I really wanted to help him and I had no idea about him being underweight and I hate it and it's horrible because he's my brother…" Echo said panicked, drifting off however, unaware of what she had just said.

"You should have told us. We could have helped him. You shouldn't have had to have pressure to keep secrets like that and I know it feels horrible but it will get better. I can vouch for that" May-li said. If necessary, she would get Po-po in again. Everyone enjoyed her coming and maybe it would relax Echo. She would talk to Mike about that sometime.

"Wait. Hold up. What was that last bit?" Mike looked angry, to Echo anyway. That's when she realised that she had told him and May-li about Ryan and her being brothers. She didn't want to make him Mike mad and she really didn't mean to say it at all, but she had messed up and Mike was angry though. She couldn't seem to do anything today without it all going wrong.

"I'm sorry. I've said too much!" She ran off, back to her room.

"I can't believe in a few hours it's christmas. it sure doesn't feel that way," Mike said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Poor Echo. I've never seen so much pain in one little girl.

"Wait till the rest of them get down tomorrow, they'll cheer her up," May-li said. "I will go and fill the stockings and then I've got to head off. I will be in tomorrow with my wife and kids - they will boost this Christmas cheer," May-li said. Her family got on so well with the kids and they were always happy and smiling. May-li knew with their help, this would be a great Christmas, even if the current situation was anything but joyful.

Even if they made it okay, she knew Boxing day was going to be difficult. The children would all be asking questions about everything and Mike and her would also have to explain what was going to happen. May-li knew that there was definitely going to be an inspection to make sure the home was 'suitable' and whatnot. The next couple of weeks were going to be hell and there was nothing she could do to make it any less bad.

"See you."

"Mike. Go to bed. You'll feel better tomorrow," May-li said, hugging him from behind before picking up the sack of stocking fillers.

Mike would have followed her words to the letter, if he hadn't heard whimpering from one of the kids rooms. He walked past each one of their bedrooms, even though he had a strong guess of who it was. He knocked on Echo's door and slowly opened it.

"I'm sorry. I really am!" Echo cried, trying to stop. When she was younger, her dad was against crying, always telling her that she was a baby. It was funny, since she had been at Ashdene, she had cried more than she had in the rest of her life. Ryan always said it was because she had been holding it all back too long, that she had to let it all out at some point, but that never made her feel any better. If anything, she would feel worse that she was being sympathised which was another thing her dad despised.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Mike said, laying on Echo's bed, letting Echo rest her head on his chest, the sound making her feel like she was being suffocated. For some reason, she seemed to like it though. She had to stop. She had to stop relying on people like this, always crying or shouting or something. Echo knew to feel better again, she just needed to hide in the shadows and then everything would be okay. She wouldn't be wasting people's time anymore.

So why was it so difficult then?


	8. Chapter 8

**I hope you have all had a good Christmas and got what you wanted. If you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a good few days rest. I won't be able to post tomorrow so I've given you an extra long chapter. My longest yet.**

 **Warnings: Mentions of suicide and self-harm.**

 _Everything and blurry as if he were underwater. Even though he felt like he was lying on a bed, he was standing up, hidden in the corner of the room. In the middle of the room, was a bed, doctors and nurses crowding as if there was a circus act. He could hear the voices, all blurred together into one great voice, echoing around his mind, bouncing off of his skull._

 _Ryan could hear one voice above all the others: "I don't think he's going to make it." He didn't recognise the voice, but whoever it was, Ryan wasn't sure he liked what they were saying. He tried to move closer to the bed, to see who it was. He pushed his way in front of the crowd to see himself, lying on the bed, as pale as snow, looking as lifeless as who knows what._

 _A long beep filled the air, the doctors starting CPR while the nurses ran around like headless chickens. Maybe this was for the best. Once and once again he had failed to look after his sister - she would be better off without him, she would be free of all the pain that had undoubtedly been following her for her whole life._

 _He let the pain, the darkness, swallow him. After all, this was all he deserved in life. The voices went quiet and all that surrounded him was darkness._

 _Days passed and nothing happened. The priest he spoke to, not long ago, he said he had found God. Ryan wished he could find him now, but alas, he was imprisoned in a world of nothing. Maybe this is what became of people after death. They were whisked away to some far corner of the universe, nothing else for a billion miles in each direction, confined to a world of solitude. Maybe this was what he deserved. At first he thought it was the pain of death, but really, after everything he did to everyone, nothing could suffice more than solitude._

 _Ryan's mind began to wonder off when a small man, perhaps a little taller than Sasha, with a giant white beard, appeared._

" _Sorry, there was a queue, massive waiting list. I'm here to show you your past, show you all the good times. If your lucky, I can send you back. It's not to late to change your mind."_

" _Sorry, change my mind?"_

" _It says here that your cause of death was suicide. In my opinion, you're way to young to be thinking like that."_

" _I got hit by a car! It wasn't suicide!"_

" _Well, you tell that to the scars on your wrist. You know, your sister does it too. When I send you back, tell her from me to stop."_

" _And who are you exactly? All I can see is Warwick Davies mixed with Santa with the ghost of Christmas past thrown in the mix!"_

" _Who I am doesn't matter. You're needed on Earth, not up here, so turn off those negative thoughts and let's go!"_

" _Wait, sorry, my sister cuts? She is 7 years old! How dare you suggest such a thing!"_

" _You ask her. Anyway, when we visit your memories, you will be in the body of yourself that age. For example, if you and your dad play cricket, you will be in the body of that little boy, playing cricket. In short, you will reliving that memory. I won't be there, in the memory, but I will be in the dark in between each memory. Think of me as a tour guide."_

 _Ryan's vision began to go dark, around the edges. Then black dots started dancing around his vision._

" _I think you'll remember this day perfectly."_

 _The darkness began swirling, a multitude of white and blue surrounding Ryan. The image focused and he realised where he was: a hospital. Why was he in a hospital? This wasn't a good memory. That was until he heard the sound of a baby crying. Of course, this was when Echo, Chloe, was born._

 _Chloe was adorable, a little ball of cuteness. This moment, this memory, it made Ryan question, how could anyone have hurt little Chloe? How could she have survived in a broken family for so long? How did she survive care every day? She was so innocent and fragile and vulnerable. Ryan wanted to go, he wanted to leave this memory. He didn't want to be reminded of the pain that followed both Chloe and him, after their mother passed away. He accepted the darkness with welcoming arms._

" _Don't show me something like that again! Nothing that will remind me of what I did!" Ryan shouted._

" _But I need to. I need to remind you that Chloe, Echo, whatever you want to call her, always has, and always need you, alive. You can't die because that's what will happen to her. She will die of a broken heart! I need to remind you that you are valued."_

 _The darkness ceased and colour began drifting in, blues and greens and yellows and reds and before he knew it, he was sitting on a beach, on a little picnic blanket, his mum one side, his dad the other._

 _On his mum's lap was Chloe, aged 2 or so, which made 7 or 8. This was around when his mum died, just before, when they were all happy. His dad stood up and walked over to a big ice cream van. Ryan could feel his face light up like the sun. His dad walked back with three ice creams and an ice lolly in his hands. His mum took one for herself and the ice lolly for Chloe, leaving a massive one for Ryan._

" _Yay!"_

" _Eat it slowly, or you'll get a stomache ache," his mum warned him. Unfortunately, Ryan's 7 year old mind ignored this, and gobbled it up. He found himself being wiped down by his mother afterwards. How he ended up with ice cream in his hair, God knows._

 _In the afternoon, his mum, dad, Chloe and he, all fell asleep, tanning in the british sun. These were the days when in summer, it was sunny, and in the winter, it always snowed, before climate enjoyed the day with his parents, splashing in the sea, trying to jump the biggest waves possible. Ryan and his dad walked out as far as deemed safe, by his mum, which was only chest high for Ryan and belly surfed back to the beach. They went to the little rock pools and looked for crabs or anemones, Ryan finding out interesting facts about each creature, courtesy of his mother, who was a marine biologist. How cool was that?_

 _They dried off and while his parents sunbathed once more, Ryan began building tremendous sand forts with sea shells of all shapes and sizes, creating a little mot and stream from the castle to the sea. Ryan felt like a 7 year old again!_

 _The four finished the day by eating fish and chips from an old chippy and sitting on the end of the small rickety pier, their feet skimming the water (even Ryan's). They were rather greasy chips but they tasted of home. It was a good day; Ryan was now full of joy, his hobbit hair blowing around in the wind, as they picked up their stuff and began the walk back to the old ford fiesta. It was just as they were getting in the car, when the black dots appeared._

" _No," Ryan muttered to himself. the darkness came, and with it came the dwarf Santa thing. "Why did you have to ruin that! That was a perfectly good day! Why did you have to drag me away!" Ryan shouted all sorts of obscenities at the creature._

" _Don't worry, my dear, I'll take you to another memory. You'll be a bit older this time._

 _Colours began swirling again, and this time Ryan was at school. No happy memories could ever come from school! He, and 28 other kids were lined up in the hall. He knew what this was: school photos._

" _Anyone with a sibling in this school, come with me," one of the teachers shouted. A handful of boys went over to the teacher. "You have a sibling, don't you Ryan?" This must have been just before he ran away; Chloe must have been around 4._

" _Um, yeah," he said, following the teacher. The teacher went off to the infant side of the school, and the children followed. On the way there, Ryan passed a window, showing himself his reflection. Wow, he was hideous. He had huge bags under his eyes, and his hair was all over the place. His school uniform was way too small; the sleeves of his shirt went no further than his elbows - this uniform had been the uniform Ryan had from year 2 to year 6. Ryan could feel his muscles aching as he walked, the bruises tender and sore - this was when their dad got drunk every night, and beat Ryan every day, right before Ryan left._

 _He was in for a shock, however, when he opened the door to Chloe's class. Chloe was sat at the back, alone. She had, like Ryan, bags under her eyes, as if she hadn't been sleeping. Her hair was matted and knotty, scruffily tied into a ponytail. Her uniform, Ryan could tell, was second or third hand. From the appearance of the two, why hadn't teachers started asking what was going on?_

 _Time passed and it was time to take the photo. The photographer asked Chloe to sit on Ryan's knee, and for Ryan to put his arms around her. After a lot of squirming and messing around from Chloe, which the photographer found adorable, a half decent photo of the two kids. Ryan knew the last half an hour had been pointless - their dad would ignore the photo and Ryan would have nowhere near enough money to buy it._

 _It had been fun though, messing around with all the props the photographer presented, seeing Chloe's little face light up. It all had to come to an end and once again, Ryan found himself surrounded by darkness._

" _I want to go back! I can't watch another memory! I hate them all - remembering the good times, when really they were all followed by bad things, by the darkness! I am always followed by the darkness and I want to go back to the light! Please!" Ryan begged the little old man._

" _As you wish. You only have one life though, so don't waste it!" The thing said. The darkness left once more one Ryan was left to the swirling colours, trying to figure out what was going on._

"Chloe."


	9. Chapter 9

**Update: I forgot to change the mistakes - thanks again Justice237 for pointing them out.**

 _Dear Santa,_

 _I know it's a bit late to be asking now and I know I've never asked for anything before but I've tried to be really good this year even though other people would disagree, and I was wondering if I've been good enough for you could help because I really need it. I'm not just saying I need when all I mean is I want, I actually need this, my brother does. I haven't had much luck in my short little life but I have a feeling that my luck will change this Christmas. I know it will!_

 _I'm not asking for anything fancy that you can buy in the shops, although, thinking about it, it isn't nothing physical at all like a toy which is what people usually ask for. You see, I have a big brother called Ryan and he always looked after me when I was younger even though my dad hurt him and one day it all got too much for him and he left even though he was only 10. I always wrote to him but he never replied and I thought he was dead._

 _I only found him again today but I got_ scared _because it was all happening way too quickly and I ran off, which should put me on the naughty list but I am really sorry, anyway, he followed me but he got hit by a car and now he won't wake up and this is the first Christmas with him in so long and all I want is for him to wake up even though the doctors say it will be a couple of weeks at least! It was my fault because I was the one to run across the road and I know he only followed me to protect me. If I could I could change it all I would. I would take his place if I could._

 _I'll never ask of anything ever again, I just want to make sure he's okay because he's looked after me so much and now it's my turn. Please help him wake up because he means the world to me. Actually, he means the universe to me!_

 _Thank you Santa, Echo (or Chloe if you want my real name although I don't use that name)._

Echo finished writing and read over what she had written. Mike had been gone an hour but Echo still couldn't sleep. She hated the comfort Mike gave her because she didn't deserve it. Christmas in an hour. It was supposed to be the best Christmas ever but she had ruined it for everyone! She knew they would have a go at her tomorrow for ruining everything. Once when she was younger and at Burnywood she had apparently knocked down the tree and although everyone knew it hadn't been her but another boy, they still hurt her because they were scared of the big boy.

Echo folded the piece of paper and into a paper plane and opened the window. Even though it was dark, when she looked down she could see a thin layer of white covering the ground. It was snowing! Echo had seen snow when she was younger, but couldn't remember much about it, apart from that it was very cold.

Echo threw the plane out of the window and hoped it would reach Santa in time. Unfortunately, she saw it drop into the snow. Maybe Santa would see it when he came. No, Santa came through the chimney, even she of all people knew that! She carefully shut the window, disheartened that her one wish wouldn't come true, and sat back on her bed. For the next hour, right until the last second before midnight, she prayed to all the Gods she had ever heard of hoping this would help, subconsciously picking at all the old scabs on her wrist.

The second it was Christmas, however, Mike came running into her room, panicking almost.

"The hospital called. They said to get there as quickly as possible, although they didn't say why. Tee is on duty until Shona gets here. Would you like to come now or I just go and you come tomorrow morning. You could bring his presents too," Mike said.

Echo was baffled. Maybe there was someone out there who listened to her and helped Ryan.

"I'd like to come now," she whispered, although Mike heard her. She stood up and put her stripy blue dressing gown on over her nightie and slipped on a pair of old rundown trainers from years ago that didn't really fit but she didn't want to be a burden and ask for new ones. She ran down the stairs behind Mike, running into the sitting room to get Ryan's present from her, and out of the house and into the big van.

The journey was filled with an awkward silence letting Echo think so many thoughts she could power the van with her mind. At first, she had thought someone had answered her prayers to save Ryan but in the back of her mind a long list of bad things that could have happened started forming. She had already lost her mum, dad, and him once, she didn't want to lose him again.

TDG

"Guys. We can do whatever we want!" Tee said. Shauna had arrived but as soon as she had heard the TV, fell asleep. All the kids were out of bed and surrounding the island in the middle of the kitchen, Bailey, Tyler and Jody making their way through 2 packets of roulette Doritos.

"Toast party!" the younger ones all chanted, that including Jody and Tyler. Finn ran and got the bread while Harry and the twins searched for all the toppings.

"Do you not remember last time?" Carmen asked.

"Well, that wasn't our fault. Anyway, May-li isn't locked in the bathroom," Jody said.

"It wasn't our choice! We were protecting Sasha," Billie said.

"Yeah, well if Tee hadn't pushed me into doing it!"

"How was I to know Shona's son was going to break his arm? Anyway, I think we agreed that we were over this!" Tee whisper-shouted.

"Oh my God, that is so hot! My mouth is on fire!" shouted Tyler, running round the kitchen like a headless chicken. Mo stood up and got a glass of milk, handing it to Tyler.

"You okay?" Mo asked.

"Yeah. That was hot!"

"No kidding! Anyway, no toast party." Carmen's words struck all of their hearts deeply. "We need to make this place Christmasy for Echo. None of us have actually tried talking to her-" Carmen was cut off by Tyler.

"I did!"

"And look how that turned out!"

"Anyway. This was going to be Echo's first proper Christmas according to Ryan. I think we need to make it as good as possible. No matter how much we hate him-" Once again Carmen was cut off.

"We were friends!" Tyler said.

"Wow, one person. Anyway, I think we need to make this a good Christmas, even if the current situation says otherwise, for Echo." Carmen finished.

"And Ryan," Tyler said.

"And how are we going to do that?" Kazima asked.

"The twins and Floss you're on paper chains. Kazima: can you make a cake?" Tee asked.

"Yeah."

"Bailey, you Tyler and Jody can go down to the corner shop and buy loads of food. Mo, Finn and Harry, you can make a card for Ryan. Ne and Tee will link the computer to the TV and make a Christmas movie list on Netflix."

"What about me?" Mo asked.

"You have the most important job. You have to make sure Shona doesn't wake up during any of this," Tee said.

"Okay."

"How long have we got?" Bailey asked.

"Mike said he won't be back until at least 5. That gives us 4 and a half hours," Tee said.

"Bailey, could you get some green icing while you're out?" Kazima asked. She had the perfect idea for a cake.

"Cause they're gonna sell fondant icing at the corner shop!"

"Go to Tesco's or Sainsburys then."

"Fine."

"3. 2. 1. Go!" Tyler shouted. All of the kids went and began their jobs. This was operation save Christmas.


	10. Chapter 10

**It's gone past new year yet i'm still writing about christmas. Happy new year by the way. I hope you all have a great year ahead of you!**

 **I would have uploaded before but I was at my Grandparents for new year so I had no internet :(**

 **There are some mentions of self harm.**

Mike and the doctor stood in the family room, while Echo sat by Ryan, holding his hand as if it were her own life support.

"So, I have called you in about the future for Ryan Reeves," the doctor said

"At midnight? On Christmas?"

"I can explain. So, for the past couple of hours, Ryan's brain activity has been unbelievably high. We had been testing him, his blood pressure and so on to find out what the cause of this unexpected activity to be. We have so far found nothing, but half an hour ago, Ryan momentarily woke up and said Echo's name, before becoming unconscious again. It is very rare for someone to have extreme brain activity within the first 24 hours but it's even more unusual for someone to wake up on the same day as they are put into a comatose state. We are keeping tabs on Ryan but I will tell you now, he's going to be okay. He will have to miss a couple of weeks off school after he wakes up so that he can get used to everything again."

"So it's all good?" Mike asked. He really hoped so - Echo was slowly breaking, blaming herself for all of this. It was so unfair on her - she had been through so much when she was little, and then she had to deal with Ryan's secret, and now he was lying on a bed in hospital, pale and broken. Although he would be okay in the long run, they would have to deal with the fact that he had broken his wrist and his ankle, as well as a good couple of ribs. It would be like Lily all over again - the stairs being one of the many things that would challenge them.

"Yeah, everything is good. You onow, If you want, if you need to leave and get back to the other kids, Echo can stay here for the night, stay with Ryan. I know it must be tough for someone so young to have a friend in hospital, not knowing if they will ever wake up," the doctor said. In Mike's opinion, this doctor was really friendly, offering to let Echo stay. She needed it, Mike could tell. She seemed so distant otherwise, back at Ashdene. The doctor before, in A&E, was strict and had no bedside manners what so ever. She hadn't explained the situation at all well, and what she did explain, made it difficult for anyone to understand, especially Echo, which probably didn't help the little girl at all. Before being ushered in the the ambulance, Echo had been shaking violently and didn't respond to anything. The paramedic said it was shock and tried to help but once they were in the hospital, no one bothered about Echo, which in Mike's opinion, was wrong - she was a seven year old girl in care who had just seen her friend get hit by a car.

Even though the NHS were good, sometimes Mike just wanted to punch them in the face, who ever ran the A&E in liverpool.

"I have someone else at the care home, so would it be possible for me to stay as well. I don't want Echo to feel as if she has been abandoned, she's been through enough already."

"Of course. You know, Mr Milligan, there are no restricting visiting times, you can come in whenever you want, and stay as long as you want."

"Thank you."

TDG

"Hi. It's me, Echo. The doctor told me that maybe if I spoke to you then maybe you might wake up, although you've only been in a coma for a day and they said before it might be a couple of weeks. They also said that even if you don't wake up, there is still a chance you might hear everything I say and it might be comforting to hear someone who you know. That's what they said anyway.

It's really scary, seeing you like this, hooked up to machines and all. It's like mum all over again - she was like this." Echo paused. She didn't know what to say. Then it her, he needed to know that they knew.

"They know Ryan. They know that you cut. I didn't tell them, they saw while you were in sugary. Why didn't you tell me though, not about the cutting but the other thing. They said you were really underweight. Why? Why are you like that? I hate it, seeing you broken like this. They said they would talk to you when you wake up, but you'll just shut them out. Even if you don't talk to them, please promise me you'll tell me what is going on. You protected me when I was younger, all those years ago, so now it's my turn to do the same for you, look after you until you're all better. Make sure you stop cutting. I guess that would be hypocritical of me. I never told you because I didn't want you to worry about me and I was scared you'd get angry, but I do the same. I know I shouldn't but I can't help it. I feel so worthless, like I ruin everything- I've been told ever since mum died, that I can't do anything right. I guess that's true, I ruin everything. I don't mean to but I do. I didn't want to worry anyone though, so I kept it all locked up.

I think we should make a promise to each other. No matter how badly either of us want to do it, we go to the other person, and talk about it. Maybe then we can both get better." Echo knew that venting about all of that was a bad idea. What if someone had heard. Maybe it was for the best - she knew they both needed help. Maybe she could talk to Tee or someone. She had made brief conversations with her and she seemed nice enough. Maybe she would know what to do. What ever happened though, Echo didn't want to tell any adults. They would send her to some secure unit or a place where crazy people go.

"You know, it's Christmas tomorrow, well in 10 minutes or so. It was supposed to be perfect - it was going to be the best Christmas ever, with my big brother, and there were going to be loads of presents and food. I guess I had to ruin that though. It should be me in a coma because I was the one to run away and oh how I wish you would wake up because I miss you so much, even if it's only been a day. Well, it hasn't even been that. I'm worried though - why would they ask me to come here at midnight. That means something has happened. What if they made us come because they didn't want to tell us over the phone that you may never wake up. I wrote to santa asking him to help you, and I prayed to all the Gods I could think of. I thought maybe you had woken up when Mike first said we had to go to the hospital but you're still asleep so it must be bad." Echo paused. For a second, she thought she felt his hand move, but nothing else happened so she continued. "I brought your present along, so you could open it on Christmas day. I was your secret santa, which is good because I don't really know anyone else. I'll keep it here so when you wake up, you can open it and then it will be like Christmas, only it will be a week or two late. I hope you like it."

Echo felt like crying. She wanted Ryan to reply to her, tell her that he was okay, that everything could be okay, but that was the last thing that was ever going to happen. Her whole life had been painful and horrible and scary, but this topped everything. She remembered when she was younger, and her dad use to beat Ryan, she would hide away in the wardrobe because Ryan said she would be safe. She would sit there for hours at a time waiting for her brother to return, not knowing if he'd ever return safe. She was scared she would go down stairs and find him unconscious or something horrible like that. This is what she had been scared of, seeing him broken, gone.

"Just please Ryan. I don't want to lose you again." Before she knew it, she was sobbing, crying out all the pain from the past few years.

TDG

"Bailey, stop."

"What Jody?" Jody ran up to him, through the snow.

"I found this," Jody said, clutching a piece of paper.

"So what?"

"It's Echo. She wrote this," Jody said.

"You can't read someone else's stuff!"

"It was outside in the snow. You need to read it." Bailey took it, feeling bad that he was reading something that wasn't for his eyes. He read it, shocked by it.

"Oh my God. They're siblings! We need to tell someone, Mike or someone. He needs to know."


	11. Chapter 11

"I've just a text from Mike. He says that Echo and him are staying in hospital for the night - they'll be back around 10ish," Tee said. It was now 3 in the morning and the group were sitting at the table, wondering what to do. Kaz was finishing off the cake, and Floss and the twins were still doing the paper chains, but everyone else was doing nothing.

"It's Christmas. I think once May-li comes back, we should go down to the hospital, have Christmas in Ryan's room. No matter how much you guys hate him, he's still one of us," Finn piped up.

"'I agree!" Harry said.

"And us!" the twins said simultaneously. Everyone else began to nod in agreement.

"Okay, that's agreed then. But for now, it is 3 in the morning and none of you have slept," Tee said, aiming this comment at the younger ones. "Floss, Harry, Finn and the twins, you can all go to bed. We'll finish the paper chains."

"What if I want to sleep too!" Tyler protested.

"Fine, anyone who wants to go to bed, go." Tee said. With that, everyone but Kaz and her left the room. "Well, it's just us two then."

"I guess," Kazima said. She had almost finished her cake - it was a massive Christmas tree, all the names of everyone, including Mike and May-li, were written across it, like tinsel or fairy lights, all in different colours.

"How do you do stuff like this? It's blooming amazing!" Tee said, marveling over the cake.

"My friends on the street, when they did art, I would watch, learn from them. It would help pass the time, you know," Kaz said.

"Yeah. I know…"

TDG

Echo hadn't realised she had fallen asleep, half lying Ryan's bed, until half a dozen doctors and nurses came running in, working around her to adjust the wires surrounding her brother.

"What's going on?" she piped up.

"He's beginning to regain consciousness apparently," Mike said, kneeling next to Echo. "The doctors say it might be a couple of weeks before he's fully aware of everything around him, but he'll live."

"Really?" The biggest smile formed on her face. Maybe her Christmas wish had come true after all.

"Ryan. Did you hear that? You're waking up!"

Ryan wanted to tell Echo how happy he was. He wanted to see her big brown eyes and look into them and tell her that everything would be okay from there on. He wished he hug her and make up for all the lost time. He wished he could comfort her and tell her that they could both beat everything that ever stood in their way, together. He wished all of these things but still, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't do anything, except open his eyes a fraction, not even that.

"Mike. Thank you."

"What for?" he asked the little girl.

"For everything. These last couple of months, they've been the best ever, and even though it doesn't seem like it, I've made more friends here than I have in my entire life. I've spoken to more people, I've trusted more people."

"I'm glad we've made a difference, Echo."

"The best thing is, I have finally found my brother," Echo said, looking over to the semi-conscious boy. Her brother.

TDG

"It was 7 when May-li came through through the door, her two kids and wife following, all carrying large bags filled with presents. All the younger ones were up already, holding bags too, all filled with decorations to go to the hospital with. They all had bags under their eyes but they didn't care - this was going to be the best Christmas ever!

"What are you all doing up so early?" May-li asked the bunch.

"We have to go to the hospital. We can't have Christmas unless we all have it together, and right now, neither Mike, Echo or Ryan are here, and as they won't be leaving the hospital for a while, we shall take it to them!" Floss said. May-li's wife and kids were looking very confused - they hadn't been filled in by anyone.

"Wait, were you alone until just now?"

"No. Shona is here, she's asleep on the couch, as usual," Finn said,

"Okay. So, did all of you agree to this?" May-li asked. A multitude of "yeah" and "yup"'s followed.

"So, you want to go now?"

"Yes!" Harry said.

"Okay then. Everyone in the van. Off we go then!" May-li said, everyone cheering. They all piled into the van - it was a bit of a squeeze with all the presents and decorations and the food, but they managed it.

"Next stop: Newcastle hospital!"

 **That was the shortest chapter I have ever written but I wanted to write something for you guys :-)**


	12. Chapter 12

**I know it's over 2 weeks since Christmas but this is the last chapter related to Xmas. I know I haven't been regular when posting but I will try and get into a pattern again.**

"What are you guys all doing here?" Mike asked, shocked at why everyone from the dumping ground had just burst into Ryan's room, all bringing bulging, overflowing bags. What was in them, Mike had no idea.

"Were here to make it the best Christmas ever!" Floss said, putting her arms on her hips, as if she were a superhero.

"It's going to be amazing!" Harry shouted.

"You won't have seen anything like this before!" Finn said. Mike looked over to see Echo, a smile on her face so big, it reached her ears. It made him happy, to see her like this. He looked over to May-li, and they both smiled. If smiling could be a conversation, theirs would go something like:

" _This is brilliant."_

" _I know. She is finally happy!"_

"This is your first proper Christmas, so we thought we'd make it a good one," Tyler said to Echo, bending down to eye level. "We brought decorations - do you want to help put them up?

"Yeah!" Tyler emptied out all of the decorations out of three of the bags. There was tinsel and fairy lights and paper chains and baubles and a load of other stuff Echo had never seen before in her life. She picked up some of the fairy lights and put them at the end of Ryan's bed, on the foot board. She switched them on and they turned a bright blue.

"Wow!" she said in awe.

"There's more, " Jody said. Echo hadn't noticed but in the corner of the room there was a little fake Christmas tree. She picked up so of the white baulballs and hung them in the tree. Jody put some mini candy canes on the tree too. Finn and Harry then put some more fairy lights on the tree, making it light up white. This was amazing - Echo had never ever decorated a tree before.

Once she had finished with the tree, Echo looked around the room. There were paper chains running around the top of the room. There were more fairy draped across the bedside table - on the table there was a massive cake. Echo stepped forward to look at it - it was a Christmas tree with all their names on it. Under the tree, there was a mountain of presents, more than she had even seen in her life.

"This is… wow. Thank you." Echo said. For the first time ever, she forgot about everything, all her problems that had built up.

"We all put our money together, and got you this." Tyler handed Echo the biggest parcel anyone had ever seen. Echo sat down and put the present on the floor, everyone else following suit. She carefully undid the wrapping paper, not wanting to waste it, and opened the box. Inside were so many different things, but one thing that caught her eye was the shoes. She took them out and examined them. They were white converse shoes, brand new and everything.

"You guys got me these! Thank you so much!" She said, standing up and running over to Tyler. She decided, without hesitation or worry, that she would look at everything else whilst sat on his lap. Out of everyone, she trusted Tyler most, because he was friends with Ryan.

"We thought you could do with some new shoes," Tee said.

"I love them!" It was only 9 in the morning but it was already the best day she had ever had! She took off her other shoes and put on the converse - they fit perfectly.

"Look at everything else," Kaz prompted. Echo pulled the box over so it was in front of her again and began to look through everything else. She pulled out a long thin tube. Curious, she opened it up - it was a poster of Lilo and Stitch. A couple of weeks back, when it was movie night, they had all decided to watch the film, and Echo loved it. It reminded her of her own life a bit.

"This is awesome!" She shouted. For the first time since she had been at Ashdene, she had realised she was starting to get her confidence: she wasn't scared or shy or nervous around anyone anymore. Maybe this was the start to a new life.

"I thought you'd like it," Carmen said. Echo put the poster to the side, before taking another thing out of the box. This time, she had taken out a snowglobe. She looked inside: there was a picture of all of them. She shook the globe, watching the snow fall. Her mum used to have them, all lined up on her dressing table, from all the places she had ever been. Echo could start her own little collection!

"This is...beautiful. Thank you!"

"Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind," Jody said, referencing Lilo and Stitch. Echo smiled.

"There's still more," Tyler said. he was right. There were three bath bombs that were all super colourful. Echo had never had a bath bomb before, but according to Jody, they were amazing. There was also a couple of T-shirts that Carmen had picked out, a big bag of sweets, and some chocolates. The last present was probably the best though: it was a little toy bear. Echo had had one once when she was younger, that smelt of her mum (according to her brother), but it got stolen by one of the kids at Burneywood. The teddy bear was soft and cuddly and Echo loved it!

"Thank you so much!" She said, standing up, giving all of them a hug. It hit her though, she hadn't gotten them anything. She had gotten Ryan something, and Mike and May-li, but none of the others. She felt so greedy - they had spent all of their money on her, and she had nothing to give to them. Her face went from happy and jolly, to sad, which worried everyone.

"Echo?" Jody asked.

"I didn't get you guys anything! You got me all of this, but none of you get things in return! That's bad."

"We don't want you to get us anything. You deserve all of this. We haven't exactly tried hard to talk to you, or be friends, and this is us apologizing. We want to make a fresh start, and Christmas was the best way to do it," Bailey explained.

"Thank you."

Everyone else began opening their presents from their secret santa, plus a present each from Mike and May-li. Tyler got a bunch of magic tricks, Bailey got some new football boots, Jody got a necklace, Tee got some professional paints, Carmen got a load of makeup, Floss got a new Tutu, Sasha got tickets to see some band, Kaz got a couple of CDs, Harry got some wrestling poster, as did Finn and Mo got a couple of books. The best present was the twins present.

Tee and Carmen had had the twins and decided that the beast present would be a joint present. The twins had got an absolutely enormous box - it was a hamster cage. Echo was a bit confused but the twins searched explained about their old rabbit. They didn't want another one but they had been wanting a hamster for ages. Tee and Carmen had got a cage and soke accessories, ready for when they got the hamster. The smiles on their faces were humungous, which made Echo happy - she liked today. Today everyone was happy, no one was fighting or being grumpy or anything!

The only thing that could make this day better was if Ryan properly woke up.


	13. Chapter 13

_She ran across the road, scared, terrified. Ryan, was her brother. SHe had a feeling it might have been the case; he was too much like her brother, and he had the same name, and she knew this from day one, but hearing it in real life from him. SHe couldn't go back to 'Chloe'. SHe abandoned that life when she went into care - she didn't want to, but apparently it was for her own safety, according to all the social workers._

 _She ran over onto the grass, and began following the path, when she heard it: the sound of bones and flesh hitting metal, breaking in ways she didn't want to think about. Echo wished she could take back everything that had happened since she had got here, because she knew she had just ruined someone's life._

 _Echo turned around to see the damage. Her knees felt weak and her chest tightened at the sight. The sight of Ryan, her brother, half-dead, broken, on the ground, lifeless. She tried to run over to him, to comfort him, but she couldn't. It was if she were stuck with super glue. It felt as if she were being swallowed by the ground, being sucked into the very middle. Echo felt dizzy, and sick, and horrible at the sight of her brother._

 _She watched as the paramedics began CPR, but it wasn't working - he was dying and it was all her fault. She saw them stop, as if they had given up. She tried to scream, to tell them that they had to save him, but no sound came out of her mouth._

" _Time of death…"_

Echo woke up, panting, tears falling down her face. It was just a dream, she reminded herself. Yes, Ryan did get hit by a car, but he didn't die. He was in hospital where they were treating him, and he was waking up, and everything was good, depending on what you call 'good'.

All she wanted to do now was go and see Ryan - she had had the same nightmare 5 nights in a row, always waking up at midnight, and she wanted to know he was okay. Now that everyone was back at school, Mike was limiting her seeing Ryan to just the weekends, and although tomorrow was Saturday, she needed to see him now - she felt as if she would burst with everything she wanted, needed, to tell Ryan.

It was hard, trying to get back to sleep, when her mind was in active mode. It had been the same for the past week, meaning she was very tired at school, and although she was friends with most of the kids at the DG, and at school, she didn't want to tell them why she was falling asleep in random places - she would seem like a wuss, getting nightmares. Kids her age didn't get nightmares!

She would usually read for a little bit, because apparently that made you tired, and usually it would work for her and she would fall asleep within half an hour, but not tonight. Echo didn't know what was so different this time, but she found herself still awake at 3 o'clock, her mind in full gear.

She took out a notebook and pen from her bedside table and began doodling random things, like people and animals and shapes and squiggles and random things that came to mind, anything to get rid of all the stuff going on in her brain - her theory was, if she put everything from her mind onto paper, then her mind would be a lot less crazy, therefore letting her sleep.

It didn't work though - Echo ended up not getting to sleep, walking through the day on autopilot, gaining funny looks from everyone. She was a bit of a mess to be fair: she had huge bags under her eye, like suitcases, and she hardly did any work, nearly falling asleep until the boy next to her, nudged her in the ribs whenever a teacher asked her a question, which she would reply by making everything up.

Alas, she made it through the day, and could finally get some rest - she may not have been tired last night, but now she was exhausted, and felt as if she would just collapse; which is essentially what she did when she got back to the dumping ground.

"Echo, do you want to see Ryan. I know I said the weekend, but we can go after dinner," Mike said, standing in the doorway.

"That would be great. Thank you," Echo said, her energy magically increasing within a second. She could go and talk to Ryan again! It felt like ages since she had last seen him and now she could.

 **I am so sorry - I haven't posted in ages and ages! I have an inset day which is why I am posting now though. If I can, I will try and post another chapter.**

 **This was pretty short but the next one will be longer, hopefully :/**


	14. Chapter 14

"How are you?" Echo said, sitting down by Ryan, taking his hand. She knew he wouldn't reply, not now at least, but she always asked because it felt good - she didn't know why but it did.

"I miss you. I haven't seen you all week because Mike says I need to focus on school, even though I'm only 7 - it's not like I have my GCSE's or anything, like everyone else!" Echo had endured a good couple of weeks of all the older ones stressing because they had their mocks or whatever - she didn't want to know what they would be like when there real things came along, it would be hell and a half for those two months.

"I keep having this dream, well nightmare, and I have it every night if I haven't seen you. It's always about the crash but you die and it's horrible and I can never get to sleep afterwards so I haven't been sleeping for very long and I fall asleep in class and get told off. Maybe if Mike let me see you then I wouldn't get the nightmare and I might have got enough sleep." Echo completely forgot Mike was in the room so was surprised when he began talking.

"You should have come to me or May-li. We wouldn't have minded."

"I felt bad - at my old care home, we would get grounded if we went to bed after 8 in the evening and left our rooms before 7, unless we had school and then it would have been 6 in the morning. They would tell us it was our fault they were angry because they didn't get enough sleep because we would wake them. I didn't want to wake you and make you angry," Echo explained.

"I wouldn't ever been angry," Mike said, kneeling beside Echo. "There was a boy, called Gus, who used to live at my old care home, Elmtree house. Just before he was adopted, he would come into my room at 3, every day for a week because he couldn't get to sleep because of all the thoughts about being adopted. Not once did I get angry, even if I didn't get as much sleep as I should have," Mike said.

"Still…" Echo trailed off. She turned back to Ryan. "Toni and Billie got there new hamster and they called him:" Echo took a deep breath "Professor Sherlock Einstein Cookie Nibbleton the First. Cookie for short. I have no idea why they named him that but he is so small and soft and he had massive brown patches which makes him look a little bit like a chocolate cookie and he's a dwarf hamster so he will grown to be about 3 inches apparently, according to Tee, although I'm not really sure how big that is. Oh, and he has a gianormous cage filled with loads of toys and the twins said when they got to Wales in the summer with school, I can look after him!" Mike laughed at how excited Echo was to look after the hamster.

"Oh, you may not want to hear this but Bailey gave me a load of school work from your school to take with me. It is absolutely massive and Mike had to carry it, it's so heavy!" Echo had 100 things to say and they were all coming out of her mouth randomly.

"The doctors said that you only need to have the casts on your arm and leg for a couple more weeks. If you don't wake up before then, it will be really sad because you won't be able to see everything everyone from the dumping ground wrote and drew, although I could ask the doctor to keep it so that you do get to keep it. I also still have your present on the table, next to the massive box of chocolates from school, although someone keeps eating them all," Echo said, looking at Mike.

"I get hungry - May-li keeps eating all the sweets in the office," Mike said.

"That's not my fault," Echo said. "No offence, but you are a lot older than May-li, so you should have more power and be able to tell May-li to stop eating the sweets," Echo said innocently.

"If only it worked that way - apparently you girls get priority over men like me," Mike laughed.

"That's because we're more awesome," Echo laughed.

"Oh really?" Another voice croaked. Echo turned around to see Ryan, eyes half open.

"You're awake!" Echo shouted, essentially launching herself on Ryan, hugging him as if she would never be able to hug him again. "I've missed you so much!"

"You're squashing me," Ryan whispered, struggling to breath, coughing. Mike decided it was best to get a doctor now that Ryan was awake, leaving the two to catch up.

"Oh, sorry," Echo said. "I am so sorry for all of this," she said.

"This isn't your fault," Ryan replied.

"They're going to ask you, about your cuts, and about your weight. You've been on vitamins because apparently you don't have enough, and your blood pressure is really low. Why didn't you say anything? I could of helped?" Echo said.

"No - I shouldn't burden you with my problems," Ryan said in-between breaths, trying to get used to talking after ages not talking to anyone.

"I wouldn't have minded," Echo said. "You're my brother - we stuck up for eachother.

"Why didn't you tell me about yours then?" Ryan asked, trying to turn the attention away from him.

"Because you were going through loads anyway!" Echo shouted.

"You're 7! You shouldn't have been cutting!" Ryan half shouted, before bursting into a fit of coughs. It just happened to be when Mike and the doctors came in.

"Echo?" He asked, confused and concerned. She turned around to see the doctor and Mike standing there, shocked at what they had just heard. Echo's reaction was to run - humans have a fight or flight mechanism, and she had obviously chosen flight. She ran to the bathroom and began to cry out all the pain. This was supposed to be a happy day - Ryan was awake. So why was she so sad?

 **Okay, so I lied. Last chapter I said I would post twice that day and this chapter would be a lot longer, yet I end up posting a week later and this chapter is still short. Oh well.**

 **I just wanted to say, thank you for over 1500 views! That is amazing and it means a lot so free cookies for all of you, and if you're allergic to cookies, here is some fruit. *hands out assortment of food***

 **Have you all watched the mini episodes and have you watched the first episode of series 4. What did you guys think of them?**


	15. Chapter 15

**I haven't written for ages and I'm so sorry - I have been binge watching glee for the past week or something as well as revising for mocks. I've also been reading a fic called 'A Broken Masquerade Mirror' though I was about 5 chapters behind because of the glee and revision but I have finally caught up so I can continue writing. I would be surprised if you haven't already, but I will say this: go and read it! It's about Ryan and it's so brilliant and amazing and sad and adjdjkdlb…..**

 **Mentions of self-harm**

 **Continuing on….**

All Echo wanted to do was cut - it helped with the pain of everything, it made her feel a little bit okay. She couldn't remember when she first started - it was sometime after Ryan ran away when they were younger, when their dad began to take out all of his drunken anger on her, instead of Ryan. She knew that it was bad, and that it was an obsession (according to the books in the library) but she couldn't help it. After Ryan had left, she had no one to talk to about everything that made her upset so she turned to hurting herself, but unfortunately, now she couldn't stop.

Echo didn't have anything sharp though, so slid down the wall of the cubical, digging her fingernails into her skin, deep and hard enough to draw a little blood. Not only was Ryan going to be questioned about his self-harming and apparent weight loss, but now they were going to talk to her too, and they were probably going to get referred to a therapist. Echo had seen it all before, kids being taken to mental homes because that was apparently what was best for them, because therapists didn't help. That was what was going to happen to Ryan and Echo, she was sure of it, but it was the last place she wanted to go.

When she had been put into care for the first time, the social workers told her that she wouldn't see her dad ever again, because he was going somewhere to help him,. At first, she hadn't realised what they meant, but after hearing the same thing over and over again, every time one of the kids went to a mental home, Echo had figured her dad had gone to a similar place for drunks.

It was funny, how Ryan had been awake for less than 10 minutes and had already made him mad - it reminded her if dad, always drunk, always angry, always drunk with anger. What if the same happened to Ryan? He had never shouted at her before, except the time she confronted him about him self-harming. All she had been doing was trying to help him.

Echo heard the bathroom door swing open and heard footsteps. She tried to muffle her crying by covering her mouth but ended up making a strange choking sound from the back of her throat.

"Echo. Are you okay?" It was one of the nurses - she was pretty sure it was Robyn from the Welsh accent and the purple converse she always had.

Robyn had been nice to Echo - she always knew what to say, she always cheered up Echo with her funny accents and impressions. Even when Echo had been really sad when Ryan had first come to the hospital, Robyn seemed to know how to make Echo smile.

"Echo?" she asked, worried.

"I'm sorry," Echo mumbled, standing up and opening the door, wrapping her arms around the young nurse. Robyn said nothing but ran her fingers through Echo's hair. Echo just repeated a muffled, teary sorry.

"Echo, why are you sorry - you have nothing to be sorry for," Robyn said, kneeling down so she was eye level with the 7 year old.

"I made Ryan angry, and then I ran off," Echo replied.

"You shouldn't have to apologise. I just want to ask if what Ryan said was true?"

Echo didn't speak but took in a deep breath, before rolling up her sleeves, showing the white scars that littered her arms, the blood from what looked like nail punctures standing out like a red rose in a field of white daisies.

"You need help," was all Robyn could say. How could someone so young be harming themselves. Robyn had read an article once about the youngest self-harmer being 5, but Robyn thought that had been an exaggeration. She had seen some things, self harm included, in her time but this was new.

"I'm sorry," Echo said again.

"Let's get you cleaned up and then we'll go back to Ryan," Robyn said. Echo nodded. The two walked out if the bathroom and found an empty cubicle, where Robyn cleaned the punctures and bandaged them up.

"I promise you, he isn't mad, just scared," Robyn told Echo before they went back into Ryan's room.

"But he doesn't get scared. He never has," Echo said. Back when they were younger, even when their dad was angry and drunk, Ryan would put on a brave face, even though he knew he would get hurt.

"Well sometimes even the bravest people get a little bit scared," Robyn replied. Echo thought back to when they were younger, to the day that Ryan ran away. Perhaps he had been scared then. When Echo had run off, it was because she had been scared, so she assumed that that was why Ryan ran when they were younger. Maybe he had always been scared, but put on a brave face for her, so that she would feel calmer.

"I guess."

"You ready to come in?" Robyn asked.

"I think so," Echo said.


	16. Echo Take-over

**I'm going to be honest - it's very unlikely that I will ever finish this but if someone wants to take over they can, just PM me - you'll have completely free-reign over this (you can change the chapters I wrote if you want and I won't mind). If no-one wants to take over within the week I'll just delete it.**

 **x**


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